Quadrature Capital Ltd Makes New Investment in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 138,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,676,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in BCE by 171.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,284,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $168,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,708,625 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter valued at $97,874,000. FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of BCE by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,505,000 after acquiring an additional 2,217,262 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter valued at $85,840,000. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of BCE by 4,046.0% during the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,075,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,810 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $33.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,416,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,013,811. BCE Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.13 and a 1 year high of $43.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $30.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day moving average is $33.08 and its 200-day moving average is $35.00.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 7.53%. On average, research analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.738 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.85%. BCE’s payout ratio is 201.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BCE shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, CIBC raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.33.

About BCE

BCE Inc, a communications company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Bell Communication and Technology Services, and Bell Media. The Bell Communication and Technology Services segment provides wireless products and services including mobile data and voice plans and devices; wireline products and services comprising data, including internet access, internet protocol television, cloud-based services, and business solutions, as well as voice, and other communication services and products; and satellite TV and connectivity services for residential, small and medium-sized business, government, and large enterprise customers.